Chinese Government grants 240 million Jamaican dollars for a Chinese Garden at the Hope Royal Botanic Gardens

On February 3, 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (on behalf of the Government of Jamaica) signed a formal agreement, accepting the donation of a Chinese Garden from the People’s Republic of China. The cost of the project was primarily funded under “The Grant Aid Agreement on Economic & Technical Cooperation between the PRC and the GoJ”, which was signed on February 1, 2005. The total cost of the project was 260 million Jamaican dollars, which included Chinese grant funding of 240 million Jamaican dollars and local sponsorship funding of 20 million Jamaican dollars. Local funding was contributed to by CHASE Fund, the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA), and members of the local Chinese community. The Chinese Government was responsible for architectural design, preparation of working drawings, and providing construction machinery, equipment and materials for the project. The design concept was prepared by China Architectural Group (CAG). The construction contract was awarded to Zhenjiang International Economic and Technical Cooperation Co. Ltd. of China (CZICC) on October 23, 2013. The project was implemented by the Nature Preservation Foundation, which has a 49-year lease to manage the Hope Botanical Gardens. The construction period was 17 months from date of groundbreaking on February 20, 2014 to completion of civil works on July 31, 2015. The Nature Preservation Foundation undertook the landscaping phase once construction was completed. The Nature Preservation Foundation was also responsible for maintaining the structures and landscaping, including installing lightings and surveillance cameras. The garden is 11 acres and located in the Hope Royal Botanic Gardens in east St. Andrew. Features of the Chinese Gardens include a lily pond, the Yingbi Wall or Shadow Wall, the Imperial Garden, and the Circular Mound or the Seat of Heaven. The garden’s architecture features aspects of the Chinese Forbidden City, an ancient imperial palace in Beijing, China during the era of the Ming Dynasty. The Chinese Garden was originally intended to be handed over in August 2012 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's Independence and the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. However, implementation was delayed due to difficulty securing formal approval for the project from all local regulatory agencies, including the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), the National Land Agency (NLA), the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT), and the National Works Agency (NWA).

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